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Good News! Updates to the Microsoft Software Donation Program

It is hard to believe how far we’ve come since we first started donating Microsoft software. TechSoup used to distribute software donations to worthy nonprofit organizations from the basement of a San Francisco Victorian. More than10 years later, TechSoup Global has moved on from that basement, but Microsoft software donations are still mainstays of the TechSoup program. And it’s a good thing! Since they started the program in 1998, Microsoft has donated more than $3.9 billion worth of software to nonprofit organizations in more than 100 countries worldwide, now reaching over 40,000 nonprofits each year. That’s a lot of basement-fulls of software!

We at TechSoup want to thank Microsoft for its longstanding commitment to supporting nonprofits around the world through software donations and more, and are thrilled to join them in announcing some important updates to their software donations program that will make it even easier for nonprofits and public libraries to get the Microsoft products they need, when they need them.

Beginning today, July 27, 2011, organizations now have more flexibility regarding when they can request Microsoft software donations and in the product donations available. And, to make navigating the program easier, we’re introducing the Microsoft Donation Center, where eligible organizations can easily track their Microsoft requests, see the value of donations received to date, and more.

How the Microsoft Program Updates Benefit Your Organization

Request what you need, when you need it: Organizations can now request Microsoft products as needed, not just once per year. Also, there is no longer a five-seat minimum requirement, so an organization can request just one license if that is all it needs.

Get more complete solutions: Now you can request from up to 10 different Microsoft title groups in each two-year cycle, so you can build more complete solutions that help you meet your mission.And, with the addition of Microsoft’s Get Genuine Windows product, organizations can ensure their existing computers are running genuine versions of Microsoft operating systems (learn more about Get Genuine).

Easily see Microsoft donations details at a glance: To help organizations manage their Microsoft donations, TechSoup has created the Microsoft Donation Center (accessible from the Donation Request/History page under My Account), where nonprofits can get all the pertinent details in one place. Organizations can easily track what’s been donated so far, what remains of their software allotment, when their cycle resets, and more nonprofit resources available from Microsoft.

Existing Microsoft cycles have been reset: If your organization is already participating in the Microsoft Software Donation Program through TechSoup, your cycle has been reset! Your two-year donation cycle will start again when you place your first Microsoft request after July 27, 2011, and will reset every two years on the anniversary of that request. Requests placed before July 27, 2011, will not count against your new Microsoft software donation allotment.

Not sure if your organization is eligible for the Microsoft Software Donation Program? Take our Check Program Eligibility Quiz – see if you’re eligible for Microsoft and our 44 other donation programs.

Together with Microsoft, we’re excited to help you understand the updates and how they can benefit your organization, and – ultimately – your community.

Help Us Donate More: Spread the word!

Many organizations have benefited from software donations from Microsoft, but there are many more still to reach! Help us spread the word to our fellow nonprofits. Check out this great video on the impact of Microsoft software donations and share it with your networks. You can also follow @msftcitizenship on Twitter to hear more or find them on Facebook.

From the blurb under the Windows 7 software offering it appears that organizations that have older operating systems installed are not eligible for upgrading. Is this correct? Our group would really like to upgrade to W7 but it seems Microsoft doesn't want us to?

It really depends on the situation. The new Windows 7 Get Genuine offering is specifically for organizations running Home or Starter Editions, Open Source, illegal or Pirated Operating Systems or for organizations that have computers without an operating system.

But if your organization is running any of the following: Windows Vista Enterprise, Business, or Ultimate; Windows XP Professional or Tablet PC; Windows 2000 Professional; Windows NT Workstation 4.0; or Windows 98 SE, then you should look at our upgrade options. To locate these, please click on Get Products, and the Microsoft link under Browse By Partner (on the left of the page) and then the first product category: Microsoft Windows PC Operating System Upgrades.

Our non-profit, which is signed up with techsoup, has funding for a new laptop for outreach presentations. All the computers that we can afford just have windows 7 home and office starter. It looks like I can use techsoup to get a full version of office, but we will have to pay to upgrade to the professional version of win 7, with its additional features. Am I missing something, or has something changed? We are a senior center that does a lot of medicare counseling.

We don't have information on Office365 at this time. But you should add this
to our Product Wishlist forum thread which you can find here. Our development team looks at this regularly. It's also
great to add to the thread in case other people are interested too. This can
help us in our conversations with our partners when asking about new product
offerings.

I would encourage you to read through our Get
Genuine category and product pages as it does sound like your scenario (you
have Home editions of Windows 7 but would like Professional editions of Windows
7) is eligible to use these products. If you still have questions, please
contact TechSoup
Client Services.

Is there a Get Genuine program that authenticates Windows XP? Our school in Tanzania has older computers that probably can't handle Windows 7. We have a variety of XP and Ubuntu systems and would like to authenticate everything to XP. I've reveived no response from Microsoft to the same question.

Donated products and license acquired through TechSoup cannot be transfered to other organizations or individuals as they are meant for the use of the specific nonprofit. If you have a field office which serves multiple projects in Tanzania, they could use the products, but you would not be able to give any to the school or any partner organizations or facilities. I would recommend getting in touch with one of our Global partners in the region as they may have a network and resources that you can look into. www.techsoupglobal.org.

We purchased Office Suite 2007 on 2/3/2010; it was upgraded to Office 2010 which a few of our employees downloaded. Now, this initial purchase doesn't show in our Microsoft Donation Center. Does this mean we need to start from scratch since everything was reset in July 2011? If so, do we need to pay the fee again? Please advise asap. Thanks!

The list of products shown in your Microsoft Donation Center reflects only what was requested during the current 2 year cycle. You should see a link that says something like "View all of my Microsoft Requests" above the current product list. This will take you to your Donation Request Status/History which you can also access through My Account. The program rules and restrictions do not impact your ability to use the licenses you've already requested. You should still have a history of licenses, products, available downloads, subscriptions etc. through your Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Account.

This is wonderful news...Thank you Microsoft & TechSoup. As a small non-profit CEO I'm able to maximize my technology infrastructure so that staff and volunteers can provide the most effective services to our target populations.

Question, we purchased Quickbooks for Windows this year, and our computer crashed, we are switching to MAC and now can not buy the programs for this computer because we already bought one this year… any ideas?